Raking With Squirrel Boy
by The Alice of Shredd
Summary: When Raven and Beast Boy are given the task of raking leaves, mischief ensues...


Beast Boy dragged his rake across the grassy entrance to the outdoor training field, grumbling about Robin forcing him to clean the leaves off it. Raven landed beside him, just as unhappy, but for a different reason.

"Great," she said quietly, putting her hands on her hips. "Now I'm stuck with half of the idiot brigade."

"At least Cy isn't here to complete the… hey!" He finally caught the dis. "I'm not an idiot!"

"Says you," she remarked, holding out her hand and sweeping it above her. Multiple dry leaves seemed to follow the motion as they swirled into midair and formed three neat piles.

"No fair!" Beast Boy yelped. "You can't rake leaves like that! That's cheating!"

"Hey," she warned. "I just did some of your work, too."

He shrugged that comment off. "Whose idea was it to stick fourteen maples around the gateway to the field anyway?"

"You, remember? You wanted there to be climbing trees for when you went gallivanting in squirrel mode."

"Oh, yeah…" he grinned. "Those maples are fun!"

""Whatever. Get raking, squirrel boy."

Twenty minutes later, Beast Boy had given up all hope on finishing. He was rolling around in the leaves as a god and running around them as a human to throw them into the air. After a few minutes of that, though, he got bored. Picking up a handful of leaves, he threw them at Raven, who had until then been reading a dark novel in a low branch of a tree.

"Hey!" she sputtered as leaves flew into her face. Giggling madly, Beast Boy hopped up next to her as a squirrel. Once she had brushed off the leaves, she turned to him with a glare. "You say you're not an idiot?" She grabbed at him, but he leaped down the trunk and transformed back into his human form as soon as he hit the ground.

"Catch me if you can!" he called. She smiled grimly and raised a hand. Waves of leaves flew at him, one right after another until all the leaves had been blown to one side. "You _missed_!" he cried jubilantly, chuckling. "You missed! You missed! You missed, you missed, you MISSED! You're too slow!"

She smiled; this would be fun. "Oh?" she asked, setting the book on the branch as she hopped down. "Slow, am I?" She molded into the ground, only to appear behind Beast Boy. He yelped as she touched his shoulder. As an added touch, she whispered, "_Boo_!"

He stumbled backwards into a heap of leaves and landed with a grunt. "That's not fair!" he panted, out of breath with fright and laughter. She just grinned at him; a cruel, mocking grin.

"You said I was slow," Raven stated. "I'm going to prove you wrong."

"You're on!" he laughed, springing back on his feet. "Ready? Go!"

Raven's eyes darkened and a whirlwind of red and gold danced around her, whipping at Beast Boy. His laughter was lost to the rushing howls of the wind as he lunged forward, changing into a tiger. He swiped at her with no claws and curled his lip upward as his toe pad hit her thigh, though just barely. She stumbled backwards, confusion across her face. She hadn't realized that a heavier animal could get by her wall. "No--" she started, but was thrown onto her back when Beast Boy leaped at her, only hitting her hard enough to cause her to loose balance. He landed his his paws on either side of her slim frame, his maw in her face. Morphing back into a human, he panted with laughter. "You missed again 'cause you're still too slow!"

Surprising her, he lightly kissed her cheek and then leaped away with giggles.

As soon as Raven had recovered from her mild daze, she got to her feet again, harshly grinning. "Oh?" she murmured, disappearing into the ground and then appearing in front of Beast Boy. Taking advantage of his momentary astonishment, she pushed him back against a tree. "What was that… that… _kiss_ for?"" she demanded.

"For being slow?" he tried amidst his nervous giggles.

"Whatever," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. "But…"

"But?"

"_You missed_."

And just as he began to wonder what she meant, she leaned forward and answered his question by pressing her lips against his. A shiver of desire flung itself through Beast Boy's body in an instant.

But within a few seconds, he felt her pull away. He wouldn't allow it. By holding her hand in one of his while his other arm wrapped itself around her waist, they kissed again.

Raven felt her emotions dancing on edge… but she didn't seem to care. She had one arm around Beast Boy's neck and she had no intention of recoiling.

Until, that is, someone cleared his throat loudly.

Raven flung herself a foot or two away from Beast Boy; he covered his mouth and stepped away from the tree to look at the new company.

Robin and Starfire were both standing there with tinges of crimson on their faces. Robin cleared his throat again and, gesturing to his and Starfire's rakes, said with a cracked tone, "We thought you two might, uh, need help…"

"Have we… interrupted something?" Starfire wondered. "Should we perhaps return later…?"

Realizing that she was still gripping Beast Boy's hand, Raven snapped her hand away.

"No, Star," Beast Boy answered, a small grin creeping over his face. With a furtive wink at Raven, he added, "We'll continue our stuff later."


End file.
